Club News
Upcoming & Recent Events
Upcoming Events
Coming Events
Precision Pistol: Warm weather is getting closer, so indoor events are getting scarce. Weekly League Matches and practices will continue to be held in the Indoor Range until after Memorial Day. The weekly League match has been moved to Monday mornings with a start time of 8:30 – 9:00 am. All club members are invited to come and compete. Non-members are also welcome to shoot, we just ask that you email the match director at bullseye@amarillorpc.com and let him know you are coming. That way, we can make sure the guest gate is open for you.
There are several NRA matches on the schedule. The next NRA 1800 Pistol Match is scheduled for Friday, May 10, 2025. The start time for the match is 9:00 am, and will be held on the outdoor Bullseye Range. Be sure to arrive no later than 8:30.
Recent Events
Amarillo Rifle and Pistol club hosts local vets
The Amarillo Rifle & Pistol Club hosted some of America’s Heroes recently. The Club welcomed three residents from the Ussery-Roan Texas State Veterans Home. These Heroes saw deployments to Vietnam, Cuba, and even Korea. After they talked to the staff of the Veterans Home about wanting to do something other than putting puzzles together or making a routine bowling trip, the AR&PC arranged to give them the opportunity shoot again.
These true American Heroes got to fire a variety of handguns on the indoor range during a cold, blustery, snowy March morning. They had the opportunity to try their hand with some .22LR Ruger Mark IVs, a Browning Black Label 1911 in .380 ACP, a Springfield Echelon 9mm, a Springfield Range Officer in .45 ACP and even a few revolvers. The old school wheel-guns included a snub-nosed Ruger SP101 in .357 magnum, a shiny nickel-plated S&W Model 19 in .357 magnum, and a nearly 100-year-old Colt Army Special in .38 Special. One seasoned Vet even got to reminisce with a 10″ T/C Contender in .22LR. And for a true trip down memory lane, we had an Auto-Ordnance 1911A1, a faithful reproduction of the firearm these Vets carried while serving. For these men, it had been several years since they had fired a gun, but with a few practice shots it all came back to them. There were several bullseyes and LOTS of smiles! A couple of the ladies from the Veterans Home Staff that accompanied the Vets took advantage of an available firing lane and put a few rounds down range as well. For one of the ladies, it was the first time she ever fired a weapon.
It was a safe and very enjoyable outing for the Vets and there is already talk about “Next Time”. The Veterans Home staff said they may have trouble limiting the number of Vets to a manageable number once they get back and word spreads. Next time it may be rifles, or they may take over both the Bench Rest Range and the Action Pistol Pit.
The AR&PC provided the facility, firearms, and ammo for this “first of its kind” event. AR&PC volunteers included Rick Gibson, Daryl Taramasso, Thaland Roberts, and Mark Timmons. Rick Gibson summed up everyone’s sentiments this way, “…this was a great way to honor our Veterans. We look forward to the next opportunity!“
September 2024 Action Pistol Match
September was our biggest turnout yet. We had 28 shooters, many were our regular competitors, but we also had some first timers. One thing that it showed us, is that 28 is simply too many. I had announce previously that we were limiting the number of competitors to 25. I had secretly intended to be lenient in September, because I knew the temps were going to be moderate all day and I wanted to find out how long the match would run with the new setup and however many showed up. It ran until almost 1:30pm. Because I know many of our competitors are family men and women, and have family activities (and chores) they need to get to on Saturday afternoon, I am trying to plan the matches to end as close to 12:00 as possible. Next year, I will be much less flexible, so make sure you preregister.
In September, we ran a total of four stages. This seems to be the most that can be set up at one time on the new bay. The stages were designed to provide a variety of target types and challenges with a round count of about 110 total as a minimum. The 3rd Stage proved to be especially challenging for some. In a last minute addition, Gary Perkins brought a Texas Star on Friday while we were doing the setup. I was looking for a way to bump the round count and the Star slotted in nicely! Well, not for everyone. If you’ve never shot a Texas Star, once you hit the first plate, it falls off and unbalances the star. Then it starts to turn. That means the next four are moving targets! While I saw 1 or 2 take out all 5 stars with just 5 shots, most were not that lucky. I saw more than a few mag changes while shooters were trying to complete the star. I’m not promising it will make an appearance every month, but we will see it again.
Going forward into 2025, you can look forward to Multi-stage setups. Unless I find the perfect formula that gives us a solid round count with a good finishing time, I will continue to mix them up. You can expect to see 3 – 5 stages of varying target counts. Paper plates provide a lot of targets in a small area, so I will be using them. Steel will be there, because everyone loves the steel, but they do take up a lot of room and we do need to consider splatter and possible ricochets. We will be using the IDPA style scoring. We used the IDPA scoring in August and the USPSA scoring in September. I prefer the IDPA scoring. Simply Time + Raw Score + Penalties (if any). USPSA seems to give the best shooter the High Score and everyone else’s score is derived from that. We will also continue to classify the PCC as just a firearm choice, instead of running a separate PCC Only stage.
Next year, we will be running our matches on the 3rd Saturday of the month, with the first match on April 19, 2025. Safety Briefing at 8:00 and first round down range at 8:30. Hope to see you there. Don’t forget to preregister. Registration opens the Sunday before the match. Once registration is full, I will email any late shooters that they are too late. I don’t expect every month to be full and walk-ons will be accepted if we haven’t hit 25. But that is “if”.
NRA Pistol Sectional and 1800 Match
The Amarillo Rifle and Pistol Club (ARPC) hosted a Precision Pistol Sectional and 1800 aggregate match, the weekend of March 2-3. ARPC has the only club-owned indoor range with turning targets in the state. They can hold matches at 50 feet, which is required for the Sectional, and at 25 yards for other indoor events. Sectional scores are submitted to the NRA by May 1 of every year, so shooters are competing with individuals from other clubs for a national title. Final results are usually published in July.
This year one shooter traveled from South Dakota to attend the matches. Others came from New Mexico and various Texas cities from outside the Panhandle.
This year’s winner of the Sectional was Kenneth G. Warner of Granbury with an 811-12x out of 900 possible. It was a close one since the second and third-place awards went to two shooters with scores of 810-12x and 810-11x; Bill Stamper of Hill City, South Dakota, and Larry Malin of Albuquerque. You can be sure the stat office triple-checked all their scorecards.
Rachel Rogers of Amarillo took first place in the Master Class and Gayle Dye of Albuquerque was First Expert. First Sharpshooter was William Feiereisen of Santa Fe and Mark Gallagher of Wichita Falls took first Marksman honors.
Following the Sectional, shooters competed in a standard NRA 1800 aggregate pistol match, which consisted of a 900 .22 Pistol Match and a 900 Centerfire Pistol Match. Five competitors opted to fire the .22 pistol for both 900s.
Overall winner of the 1800 was Bill Stamper with a 1628- 28x. Gayle Dye was First Expert while Mark Timmons of Amarillo took First Sharpshooter. Mark Gallagher was First Marksman.
For the .22 only shooters, Bertie Nicholson of Bernalillo, New Mexico took first place and Thaland Roberts of Amarillo won first Marksman.
Next year’s Sectional and 1800 Match are scheduled for the first weekend in March at ARPC.
Bill Stamper, K.G. Warner and Larry Malin
Armed Women of America Chapter Meeting Intro to Defensive Shotgun
Members of the High Plains and Claude chapters of Armed Women of America combined on Saturday May 18 for an Intro to Defensive Shotgun class at Amarillo Rifle and Pistol Club. Eight ladies attended, seven of which had never shot a shotgun previously.
Instructors, Jeff Tormey and Jordan Coulson, ARPC club members, provided a classroom lecture first on the history of the shotgun and its use in both law enforcement and home defense.
On the range, the ladies received instruction on operation of a shotgun and shooting techniques. Jeff and Jordan demonstrated the importance of knowing how one’s shotgun patterns with various loads. Additionally, ladies were shown the difference between the same load in two different shotguns.
Each of the ladies then was given individual instruction on manipulating a shotgun, from stance, to loading, to pulling the trigger.
Each of the ladies left feeling they knew more about the shotgun than they knew at the start and was confident in her ability to maneuver, operate the gun, and successfully mitigate recoil.
Panhandle Indoor Precision Pistol Championship
